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New World, Mexico, Spanish Colonial Period, ca. early 19th century CE. A carved wooden statue of a dynamically posed Madonna standing atop a pedestal composed of clouds with angelic faces peeking out from them, looking upward at Her. She stands with her hands together, her head slightly turned, and she wears long, flowing robes, lovingly carved. These are white, pink, and dark blue. Her face is serious, with glass eyes and much of the paint worn from devotion. A recent worshipper has placed a small wooden cross on a metal chain around one hand. An early example. Size: 8.5″ L x 10″ W x 23.5″ H (21.6 cm x 25.4 cm x 59.7 cm)
Our Lady of Guadalupe is often depicted in this manner, as in Rubens’ baroque altarpiece painting, Mondsichelmadonna (Madonna on the Crescent Moon), an example of this iconography from Freising Cathedral in Germany. This powerful symbolism has obviously spoken to many religious people throughout time.
Santos played an important role in bringing the Catholic Church to the New World with the Spanish colonists. These mannequin-style religious figures were hand-sculpted and often furnished with ornate religious clothing, usually funded by religious devotees, and were used as icons to explain the major figures – Mary, Christ, and the saints – in the religion to new, indigenous converts. Likewise, they served as a connection to the Old World for colonists far from home.
Condition: One hand is lost. Figure has extensive wear to paint, with fine craquelure on much of the remaining paint. It has also clearly been overpainted a number of times and the base is old but not original.
Provenance: private Francis & Lilly Robicsek Collection, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, acquired second half of the 20th century
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